Corporations, StartUps and SME's

If you are a business Corporation or a StartUp looking for guidance to protect your innovations by patents and/or designs, or are you looking for brand protection through trademark registration, then we can help you. Our goal is to help you attain quality protection for your IP and help you simplify or insource as much of the IP process as you desire.

We believe that only creative assets of value should be protected. Let us help you evaluate the costs for protection, the scope of protection, and potential earnings attributed to the asset before committing funds to protect the asset. If there is value for you in protection, together we will protect it.

Patent & Trademark Associates

If you are a Foreign Patent & Trademark Associate, or a Corporate Patent & Trademark Department, looking to establish a professional relationship with a Canadian Patent and Trademark Firm, then let us work with you as your Canadian representative.

We are a highly organized Firm that provides advice in all areas of intellectual property protection – patent, trademark, and design. From the initial filing of an application, through the prosecution procedure to enforcement, we strive to provide a strong level of support at an affordable price.

Why Choose Us?

The cost of the patent search for your invention(s) can pay dividends in controlling downstream costs of patent protection as well as identifying early in a product launch cycle patents of your competitors. Read More

A Canadian patent is a document which provides an exclusive right to an inventor for an invention in exchange for a complete disclosure of how the invention works. The exclusive right is limited to 20 years from the date of filing of the patent application. Read More

Designs protection is available for manufactured articles. The scope of protection is limited to the design’s shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation, or combinations thereof. Simply put, what you see is what you protect. Read More

We have StartUp in-house and virtual in-house company consulting patent and trademark process knowledge that we are willing to share with you to allow your StartUp to establish IP processes molded to your business needs and budget allowing you to create and develop a cost effective IP portfolio aligned with the business objectives of your StartUp.

To cost effectively protect a Startup's IP, the Startup should consult with us to take charge of its IP process with a view to simplifying or insourcing the IP process.

We have experience partnering with Startup companies to educate them on how to establish a vehicle that gets them effective IP protection including teaching them how, when and where to brand and trademark their products and services, how to identify core inventions, how and when to make patent, trademark, and design searches and apply for protection. As your StartUp grows, we can help you take ownership of your patent and trademark development and protection processes. We can provide consultation at the level of a virtual in-house patent and/or trademark operation. Let us help you establish your IP processes so your Startup can easily take over control of and mold these processes to reflect your business objectives. Our professionals can work seamlessly with you as part of your company IP team.

Registered Canadian Patent Agents and Trademark Agents are the only professionals registered by and before the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) to act as an agent for Applicants in obtaining Patent Grants and Trademark Registrations. These professionals can assist you in navigating the nuances of patent law and trademark law when seeking intellectual property protection in Canada before CIPO. For a brief discussion on the nuance between patents and trademarks please read the answer to the next question.

A TRADEMARK is typically a logo, word, coined expression or brand that is used in association with the sale of goods and services. The purpose of the trademark is to leave in the mind of the consumer a sense of quality, or characteristic of, the goods and services sold under the trademark. This trademarketing or branding is very important to a business in the marketing of goods and services over time as it builds goodwill and brand recognition with the consumer that distinguishes the business’ goods and services from those of its competitors. Trademarks can be licensed by the trademark owner for use by others. These licenses will have clauses that insure that the quality and character of the trademark is maintained by the licensee to the standard set by the owner. For example, if you are travelling in a foreign country and you see a fast food service trademark you recognize, you can be confident that what you order at that foreign fast food restaurant will be up to the same standard as what you could order at home. The value of a trademark can grow in time with continued use. For the most part, the rights in a trademark come through the use of the trademark. Trademarks can be registered in most countries around the world to give your broader protection of your trademark rights. Such registered trademarks can be renewed about every 10 years in most countries provided you are using the trademark. As long as you use your trademark, you should be able to keep your rights to this this intellectual property asset in perpetuity.

A PATENT on the otherhand, is an intellectual property asset that must be granted by a patent office in each country where the patent is to be held to become an IP asset. The patent typically expires about 20 years after filing in each country and, during that 20 year period, the patent can lapse (or expire) sooner if the maintenance or renewal fees are not paid. A patent, unlike a trademark, does not cover a logo, word, coined expression or brand. A patent provides protection for useful practical embodiments of an “inventive idea” that can relate to a new machine, method of manufacture, and chemical composition to name a few examples. In order to be granted a patent by a country, each country has patent examiners that review the patent document. The role of the patent examiner is to look after the public and the inventor’s interests and grant a fair patent. The patent document typically has a description of the invention that refers to drawings and a set of “claims” that map out or put a fence around the practical embodiments of the inventive idea for which the patentee seeks to have the exclusive or sole right to make, sell and use the invention. The patent examiner makes sure that the description is sufficient to allow a person skilled in the art or science to which the patent pertains to be able to make, sell and use the invention (once the patent expires). The patent examiner also makes sure that the scope of the invention defined by the claims is novel and inventive over what has been done before or previously patented. A patent can also be licensed and the inventor/patentee receive a royalty for the licensed use.

So as you can see, a trademark and a patent are two different types of intellectual property. A trademark brands your goods and services in the eye of the consumer with a level of character, quality and goodwill, and a patent gives a patentee the right to a patented invention for a new and useful product or process for a limited period of time.

On December 16, 2014, Bill C-34 received Royal Assent. This bill includes amendments to the Canadian Patent Act. The purpose of many of the amendments to the Patent Act is to align Canadian patent law with the Patent Law Treaty (PLT) done at Geneva on June 1, 2000.

Currently, new Regulations are being drafted to support the amendments to the Patent Act. Once these Regulations are in place, the Act will come into force. One might expect to the see the new Patent Act in force by the fall of 2017, if not sooner.